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Coping with the transition to retirement
I did a Google search and the first article I read is called "Adjusting to retirement" from Mens Line Australia. ''There is a line in the article where they say that one of the biggest problems coping with retirement is answering the question "What do you do?" The answer should not be framed in terms of what you do, but in terms of who you are. I used to answer that question, on the few occasions that I was asked, with reply "nothing." "How can you do nothing?" "Well, I'm not working, and I'm not retired, and I'm not on the dole, or any other benefits." I thought I was being smart, but I was really just a smart-arse, and as I think John Lennon once said to Neil Aspinall "No one likes a smart-arse." What Mens Line Australia doesn't say, or even imply, is that the older you get, other people automatically assume you no longer "do", hence the few times I was asked the question. Just the other night, out with a friend for dinner, she said coping with the fact that people no longer asked her that question was the bleakest reminder of how old she was and how other people assumed she no longer worked. On the other hand, with the Australian government increasing the age at which we are eligible for the state pension to encourage people to work longer, that particular problem will lessen. I'm sure I've already written about it but I started to feel (clinically) ''depressed the longer I did not work. Of course, it is possible that it wasn't lack of work or lack of work alone that was making me feel "blue." It is also possible that I wasn't even clinically depressed, although I already suffer from anxiety, and that is often linked to depression. I spent my days either on the computer, in the cafe near my home, and in the late afternoon, I always went to the beach, usually to either Bronte or Clovelly. Moreover, my mood always lifted when I arrived at the beach, which is perhaps a sign that I wasn't depressed, but I was still frightened that one day I would go to the beach and I would still feel sad. I think I had already started to see a clinical psychologist around that time but even if the feelings of sadness were not the reason I started to see him I would certainly have discussed it with him. The genesis of the action that lifted me out of my sadness occurred at Bronte when I telephoned the Open University Australia (OUA) on my mobile phone, intending just to make an enquiry about possible courses, and the advisor I spoke to enrolled me in my first unit, Critical Thinking, on the spot. That was February, last year (2015), and now as February 2016 comes to a close, I've almost completed my fourth unit and my first year. I've just about completed Web Communications and I've also completed Creative & Professional Writing, and Academic Learning Skills. It has been largely, probably completely, a positive experience. Every day I spend a few hours, usually in the afternoons, studying, and I feel like I am achieving something with my life. I do not have to pay any fees up front and the money is recouped by the Australian government via my annual tax return. I think that as long as my income does not go beyond $50,000 per year I won't be liable for any fees anyway. Time for a break I think as it's nearly 1325 and my brother has just gone down to the cafe. The only problem is that my cat, Panda, has just decided to sit on my lap. I hate pushing her off, not least because she might nip and scratch, but I have to do it.